劍

劍 (Kangxi radical 18, 刀+13, 15 strokes, cangjie input 人人中弓 (OOLN), four-corner 8280₀, composition ⿰僉刂)

• 𠐘, 𡃍, 𤑯, 𤢾, 𧁴, 𣋽

• 剣 (In Japanese shinjitai)
• 剑 (In simplified Chinese)

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 144, character 45
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 2228
• Dae Jaweon: page 326, character 4
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 1, page 358, character 10
• Unihan data for U+528D

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *kams): phonetic 僉 (OC *skʰlam) + semantic 刂.

Schuessler (2007) minimally reconstructs 劍 (OC *kams) and proposes a possible native origin, from *k-nominalized adjective 剡 (OC *jamʔ), which is from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-rjam (“sharp”) and lost its *r- initial due to folk etymology; doublets 磏 (OC *r(i)am, “whetstone”) and 鐮 (OC *ɡ·rem, “sickle”) retain *r-.

Alternatively, the double-edged sword seemingly originated from the southern state of Wu (吳); so a native Wu term, of unknown linguistic affiliation, might have yielded both Old Chinese 劍 (OC *kams) and Proto-Vietic *t-kɨəm ( > Vietnamese gươm).

劍

1. sword (bladed on both sides); sabre (Classifier: 口 m mn; 把 m c)

   • 鄭之刀，宋之斤，魯之削，吳粵之劍，遷乎其地而弗能為良，地氣然也。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, trad.]
     郑之刀，宋之斤，鲁之削，吴粤之剑，迁乎其地而弗能为良，地气然也。 [Traditional Chinese poetry, simp.]

     From: Rites of Zhou, circa 3^rd century BCE

     Zhèng zhī dāo, Sòng zhī jīn, Lǔ zhī xuē, Wúyuè zhī jiàn, qiān hū qí dì ér fú néng wéi liáng, dì qì rán yě. [Pinyin]

     The knives of Zheng, the axes of Song, the pen-knives of Lu, and the double-edged swords of Wu and Yue are famous for their origin. In no other places, can one make these things so well. This is natural because of the qi of the earth.

2. Classifier for swings of a sword.
3. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) (alt. form 挟) to hold beneath the arm

   • 回顧乳者劍汝而立於旁。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     回顾乳者剑汝而立于旁。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: 1070, Ouyang Xiu, 《瀧岡阡表》, translated as Inscription On the Memorial Tablet For the Passage To the Shuanggang Tomb by Ronald C. Egan

     Huígù rǔzhě jiàn rǔ ér lì yú páng. [Pinyin]

     Turning around, he saw the wet-nurse at out side, holding you in her arms.

4. a surname

• 鋏／铗, 鍔／锷

(Jinmeiyō kanji, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 剣)

1. Kyūjitai form of 剣: double-edged sword; swordsmanship

• Go-on: こん (kon)^{←こん (kon, historical)←こむ (komu, ancient)}
• Kan-on: けん (ken)^{←けん (ken, historical)←けむ (kemu, ancient)}
• Kun: つるぎ (tsurugi, 劍)^{←つるぎ (turugi, 劍, historical)←つるき (turuki, 劍, ancient)}
• Nanori: あきら (akira)、つとむ (tsutomu)、はや (haya)

• 劒

From Middle Chinese 劍 (MC kjaemH).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [kɘ(ː)m]
• Phonetic hangul: [검(ː)]
  • Though still prescribed in Standard Korean, most speakers in both Koreas no longer distinguish vowel length.

Wikisource

劍 (eumhun 칼 검 (kal geom))

1. hanja form^? of 검 (“sword; knife”)

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典. [2]

劍: Hán Nôm readings: kiếm, ghém, gươm, kém, chém, sớm

1. sword

• 劍術 (kiếm thuật)

• Chữ Nôm. The modern Vietnamese word for sword is kiếm.

• www.chunom.org